Here's one for the tech heads - Any help appreciated

Silly-Sausage

I've recently updated my router and changed my package from 100mbps to 250 mbps.

Everythinng works fine and when i do a speed test using Ookla on ethernet on a Macos machine get full speed of 250 mbps download.

However when i download from a site that i know has high speed download my downloads initially default to 100 mbps (you can see it trying to go higher but something holding it back) in Google Chrome which going by advice on the net says i probably have a faulty ethernet cable, just to confirm it is Cat5e and may well be faulty.

But what i can do is pause my download, go into my ethernet settings and change network hardware settings from auto to manual and apply and then resume my my download and i then get full 250 mbps on that download.

Unfortunately i have to do this routine every download to get full speed and can't work out the issue, surely if i had a faulty ethernet cable then i wouldn't get full speed no matter what as the fix is not intermittent.

I totally understand that there are thousands of variables regarding this, but if by chance anyone has come across this problem before, please help :0

Just to confirm it's ethernet on a mac, high sierra which i can't update due to older software compatibilty issues

Actually in the process of either getting and macbook pro m5 or macbook air m4 - Just trying to get the best discount - Wow just googled and neither have ethernet - i did not know that... hmmm

Ta !

SchnuppiLilac

Silly-Sausage change network hardware settings from auto to manual and apply

After changing Configure to Manually, are you changing the Speed setting (autoselect by default) as well? If not, try:

Configure: Manually

Speed: 1000baseT

Duplex: full-duplex

MTU: standard (1500)

rduke1978

Silly-Sausage Chrome for Mac handles downloads very poorly. Try switching to Safari. That cleared up any download issues I had with this site.

SchnuppiLilac

Silly-Sausage Wow just googled and neither have ethernet

Too slim for ethernet. If you need ethernet on a Macbook, you'll need an adapter too.

Silly-Sausage

SchnuppiLilac

SchnuppiLilac After changing Configure to Manually, are you changing the Speed setting (autoselect by default) as well? If not, try:

Configure: Manually

Speed: 1000baseT

Duplex: full-duplex

Yeah tried all the approprate configs manually without any luck, ir doesn't matter whether i'm manual or auto half way a download after unpausing i get full 250 mbps.

rduke1978 Chrome for Mac handles downloads very poorly. Try switching to Safari. That cleared up any download issues I had with this site.

I will give that a go, but bear in mind it will be a very old version which will be linked to High Sierra - I just gave it a try and it kicked up loads of privacy issues due to being outdated, but did manage on youtube and defaulted to 100 mbps

I'm starting to think it's either my outdated OS or maybe faulty router.

SchnuppiLilac Too slim for ethernet. If you need ethernet on a Macbook, you'll need an adapter too.

Yeah i didn't thnk of that, i thought the Macbook pro might be capable, but i guess not.

Thanks all

renstimpy11

Silly Sausage uses a Mac... so many things make sense now 🤪

Silly-Sausage

renstimpy11 @dolphin7559

Noted - No one likes little yappy dogs 🙂 - Lets leave it there

Great album by the way - Love the production

jokkmokkmedsokk

I'm agreeing it probably is a cable issue.

I'm guessing there is a connectivity issue on the cable that sporadically force the link down to 100M linkrate. For example if one of the 8 individual wires withing the cable is partially broken. Normally the cable is not moving, and the broken part is still touching enough to be able to conduct the signal. But sometimes the cable is bumped or bent a little, and the connection is broken. When that happens the cable go from 1G link to 100M link. 100M linkrate only need 4 of the individual wires within the cable, while 1G needs all 8 to work.

If you set to manual, and this connection problem happens, you will probably loose connection completely. But perhaps it does not happen often enough that you notice it. Perhaps not often enough to be a problem. But still, I would try to find a new cable.

Silly-Sausage

jokkmokkmedsokk If you set to manual, and this connection problem happens, you will probably loose connection completely. But perhaps it does not happen often enough that you notice it. Perhaps not often enough to be a problem. But still, I would try to find a new cable.

Cheers for the reply

That's the thing that has me confused about it being a cable issue.

Every single time without exception, i can pause the download, and change from either Manual to Auto (or vice versa) and guarantee i will get full speed from that point on, surely if it was a dodgy break in the cable i would sometimes not get full speed after the pause.

Anyway it looks like i'm going to have to get a cable to eliminate it - You're probably right as that seems to be the answer that i keep on getting.

Thanks again

jokkmokkmedsokk

Silly-Sausage "surely if it was a dodgy break in the cable i would sometimes not get full speed after the pause".

That depends on the duration of the break that causes 100M link. If it's very short, it seems unlikely that the issue is there at the same time as you are changing mode.

But off course, it might also be a driver issue. Either on the gateway or the network adapter in the mac. The latter is relatively easy to rule out with a usb-ethernet-adapter. But I would start with trying a different cable

Silly-Sausage

jokkmokkmedsokk But off course, it might also be a driver issue. Either on the gateway or the network adapter in the mac. The latter is relatively easy to rule out with a usb-ethernet-adapter. But I would start with trying a different cable

I will do - cheers